Sun  ID: 11167

SDO Resolution Comparison Resource Page

Released on January 14, 2013
Ultra High Definition, or 4k, TV has four times as many pixels as a high definition 1080 TV. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Its Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) and Helioseismic Magnetic Imager (HMI) instruments together capture an image almost once a second that is twice again as large as what the ultra high-def screens can display. Such detailed pictures show features on the sun that are as small as 200 miles across, helping researchers observe such things as what causes giant eruptions on the sun known as coronal mass ejections (CME) that can travel toward Earth and interfere with our satellites.
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At one pixel captured to one pixel displayed, UHD and 1080 can only show part of the the overall image made by SDO in ten different wavelengths every 12 seconds.
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Ultra high-definition TVs have four times the pixels of a 1080 high-definition TV, but still have fewer pixels than the images from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). This image from SDO was captured on Aug. 31, 2012.

Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO

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Ultra high-definition TVs — sold for the first time in late 2012 and early 2013 —have four times the pixels of a current high-definition TV, but still have fewer pixels than the images from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). This image from SDO was captured on Nov.13, 2012, and shows star-shaped solar flare in the lower left-hand corner.

Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO

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Comparison of SDO image resolution to television resolution and other sun-observing satellites.
 

Related

SDO First Light Media

For More Information

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/news/ultra-hdtv.html

Credits

Scott Wiessinger (USRA): Producer
Karen Fox (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Writer
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11167

Mission:
SDO

This item is part of this series:
Solar Snapshots

Keywords:
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Sun-earth Interactions >> Solar Activity >> Solar Flares
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Sun-earth Interactions >> Solar Activity >> Solar Ultraviolet
SVS >> SDO
SVS >> Solar Dynamics Observatory
SVS >> Heliophysics
NASA Science >> Sun
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Sun-earth Interactions >> Solar Activity >> Coronal Mass Ejections

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0